Biographical Sketch

The Texas Crime Investigating Committee was formed by the Texas House of Representatives, 52nd legislature, to investigate organized crime activaties including bootlegging and bribery in Texas during the early 1950s. Waggoner Carr, who was at the time the Lubbock County Attorney (1951) and a member of the Texas House of Representatives (1951-1980), served on this committee.

Scope and Content

The Texas Crime Investigating Committee Records contains correspondence, legal documents, testimonies, reports, and photographs relating to the Committee's investigations throughout the state of Texas, including West Texas, Galveston and Houston, and the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It bulks with testimony of witnesses (1951-1952). Of special interest are a report on Mickey Cohen and his associates containing photographs, news clippings, police reports, and a history of the Mafia containing a list of its prominent members. The final report of the committee deals with financial matters, findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the committee. Lastly, there are audio recordings of Committee proceedings as well as testimonies and interviews with investigators and suspects on both Soundscriber discs and other audio media.

Note that many of the Southwest Collection's oral history abstracts and recordings may be found at http://collections.swco.ttu.edu/handle/10605/234 and http://www.digital.swco.ttu.edu/Oral_History/oralhistory.asp